Roger Waters honors war casualties on "Wall" tour

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It's not a milestone known to many, but 30 years, 9 months and 16 days have elapsed since Pink Floyd launched a world tour in Los Angeles to promote its concept album "The Wall."

The project's mastermind, Roger Waters, recalled the historical tidbit during his return engagement to the city on Monday, which also coincided with the 31st anniversary of the album's release in Britain.

Since the 1980 tour required an 80-man crew and the props cost nearly $1 million, according to the music-industry expose "Hit Men," the rock band limited the multimedia extravaganza to four stops: Los Angeles, New York, London and Cologne.

Waters, 67, long departed from Pink Floyd after a nasty spat with his bandmates in the mid-1980s, is now sparing no expense bringing "The Wall" to the rest of the world.

The North American leg began in Toronto on September 15, a three-month European jaunt kicks off in Portugal in March, and an Australian swing may happen in late 2011 or early 2012.

Each show sees a giant wall slowly rise between the 12-man band and the audience as Waters performs his autobiographical songs of disillusionment, including Pink Floyd's biggest hit "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2."

DEATH, DESTRUCTION

A Spitfire airplane crashes into the stage at one point, a radio-controlled pig rises above the crowd with political slogans scrawled across its belly, grotesque puppets sway ominously to an unrelenting blast of light, sound and video.

The two-hour concert is a harrowing journey through death, destruction and despair. Photos frequently flash across the wall of victims of violence, including Neda Agha-Soltan, whose killing during the 2009 Iran election protests was broadcast over the Internet.
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